April 28th, 2025Just sayin’…
By Donna Kelly
We had a call a couple of weekends ago from friends in Brisbane. Wondering if we were OK.
I asked why we wouldn’t be and they said ‘the bushfire – everyone is being evacuated’. We said we were fine and it was not under control, but getting there, and hopefully all would be well. And we are at Glenlyon, so a fair bit of distance between us and Sailors Falls.
I remember getting a call when I lived in Japan during the Tiananmen Square Massacre. A friend was wondering if I was OK. I kid you not. I think the media was saying Asia was firing up – or else my friend was dumber than I would like to think.
The media can be a funny thing. Yes, we are part of it, but I don’t like a lot of it. As you would see on our back page we do let facts get in the way of a good story, but some media does not mind the odd beat-up.
Back to the fire, which was a controlled burn, until it was not.
A meeting was held with residents to talk about what was happening and the media just happened to be there. One long-term resident, who knows the bush, wrote to me afterwards.
“I attended a public meeting of the residents of the Ridge Road area who were impacted by the planned burn off. I was interviewed by Channel 9 but didn’t make the cut. I believe Channel 9 deliberately slanted the news to suggest that the residents were angry. That was untrue.
“I spoke up in defence of the CFA and Forest Fire Management and got a round of applause. I was then asked to speak on behalf of the long-term residents. I was interviewed at length by the journalist and afterwards he shook my hand and said ‘well spoken’.
“I just want to make it clear that those of us who knew we had to have a planned burn and were hoping for it weren’t represented at all by Channel 9 news and the only thing I’m angry about is the slant they put on it to suggest that we were angry.
“We all have faith in Forest Fire Management and would rather have a planned burn in autumn than a bushfire in summer.”
Then of course it all hit Facebook and those just trying to provide real-time information were slammed so hard they pulled down their helpful comments and left the discourse. I don’t blame them.
And Channel 9 just returned to their Melbourne studio never to be seen again. And probably the journo who did the interview presented this person’s words and maybe it was too long or just didn’t fit the optics of angry residents. Who knows?
But I think that’s why local media is so much more accountable. If we write rubbish, we can be held to account in the supermarket, or walking down the street, or in the pub. So we make sure we write as succinctly as we can – because I would rather have a pleasant visit to Coles than one with an angry reader. Same with the pub.
I always said to my mum to never talk to the media, well except for me, and I would suggest that to most people. It feels like the right thing at the time but comments can be slanted and I have actually seen them rewritten. Or, as above, just ignored.
My favourite media story is when our house caught fire in Frankston. An ABC journo appeared in the front yard just after the dogs were saved by us and the firies. I told him to go away. He said he had driven all the way from Southgate.
I said that was rubbish because the Triple 0 call had only been made 30 minutes prior. He said our house had a For Sale sign so….I told him ‘No, I get the quirk but no’. He said ‘you would want to thank the firies…’ I said ‘No, we will do that ourselves’.
He said ‘oh well, not to worry, I already got a house fire around the corner’ and off he went. Never trust the media. Not even the ABC.
